Henry's Dream
by oddmusic
Summary: Inspired by BTVS episode "Normal Again". Henry wakes up in a white room with white walls a white bed and a white door – in short a mental asylum. Over the next few days he will be tested and forced to answer one simple question: is the world he's known and everything about it just a dream?
1. Chapter 1: The White Room

**Note: This one is inspired by** _ **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**_ **episode "Normal Again". Today, in the role of person who wakes up to be told he's been living life not in a world of magic and monsters but in an insane asylum is everybody's favorite kid with a mess of a family tree, Henry Mills-Swan-Charming-White-Cassidy–Stilskin…**

 **Chapter 1: The White Room**

Henry woke up. His bed felt hard. And then he looked around.

He wasn't in his bed. He wasn't in a bed at all. He was lying on the floor. The floor, for it's part was white, though some dirt was showing around where he had been sleeping. Which meant only one thing. He wasn't in his room.

To his right was a bed. Its frame was visible and made of metal, but otherwise there white blanket on white sheets and a white pillow in a white pillowcase. To his left a white door, with a small window in it, showing that the white door led to a white hallway. And all around him…

All around him was the final clue as to where he was. White walls. White padded walls.

He was in an insane asylum.

Henry began to panic.

"Mom!" he yelled. He wasn't even sure which one he was yelling for. Either of them would do. Both of them would be relieving.

"Mom!" he yelled again. No response. Of course not. He was in a white room with a white door that was probably locked. Still, he figured he'd try the white door. He got up and…sure enough it was locked.

"Mom!" He wasn't even sure why he yelled a third time. His moms would surely be coming for him. But yelling for them, when they probably didn't even know where he was, wasn't going to do any good.

"Mom!" He'd have to stop doing that. He was only bringing attention to himself. He could yell his parents to him any faster.

A man walked up near the door and looked in. Henry hid under the bed.

He knew it wouldn't do any good, but for some reason, the man terrified him.

"Come quickly!" he heard the man say.

 _My mom is_ so _going to kill you_ he thought, then wondered which one of his moms he was thinking of. Regina probably. Except…Emma was the Dark One now. She was probably capable of it now.

For the first time he made up his mind as to who he wanted coming to his rescue. He wanted Regina. Not that he wouldn't be happy to see Emma, but he was afraid Emma might do something terrible to these people. Something that might turn her dark forever. Regina, if she did something terrible to these people (and Henry wasn't exactly opposed to the idea) could come back from it – she'd had practice. But Emma…she couldn't. Not now. Not until they got her away from that dagger.

"He was calling out for his mom," he heard a new voice say, a female voice.

"Do you know…" and then the male voice trailed off and he couldn't hear them at all.

Henry decided to get out from under the bed. It was silly. There was nothing he could get anything from hiding under the bed.

He began knocking at the door.

"Hey!" he yelled, "Let me out! Let me out right now! I want to see my moms!"

The man walked up to the window in the door. Henry gasped.

The man in the window was Killian Jones.


	2. Chapter 2: Not Who You Think

**Chapter 2: Not Who You Think**

Henry watched as Killian, his mom's boyfriend, unlocked the door and walked in.

"Hi Henry," he said, "Glad to see you're awake and alert." He said this like it was some kind of joke.

"Killian," said Henry, "What's going on?"

"Who's Killian?" asked Killian.

"You are," said Henry.

"Henry," said Killian, "I'm not who you think I am."

Henry looked at him in confusion. And then he realized something. This man who looked like Killian, had an American accent. He looked like Killian, he held himself like Killian, he even had Killian's somewhat overgrown facial hair.

But he was dressed in a white lab coat and what was more, he was wearing glasses. Henry couldn't remember Killian ever needing glasses.

"My name," said the man who looked like Killian, "is Doctor Kevin Jones. I'm your primary psychiatrist."

"Where am I? Where are my moms?"

Dr. Jones sighed.

"Before I begin, I want you to know that what you're experiencing here today is actually very encouraging. This is as lucid as you've been in over three years."

"I don't understand," said Henry.

"As you've probably managed to put together you are in a Mental Institution. To be more specific you are in the McLean Hospital in Boston Massachusetts. Your mother – Regina Mills that is – paid a lot of money to get you in here.

"You're here because a little under a year after your birth mother – Miss Emma Swan – arrived in your hometown – Storybrooke was it? – you suffered a psychotic break, and a rather severe one at that. You already had been convinced that you lived in a town of fairytale characters. Your therapist thought it was just a fantasy you'd created and begun to believe, nothing more severe. Which is what we teach therapists to conclude in cases such as yours. However it turned out to be something much more severe in your case.

"Your fantasy became, well your reality. You withdrew from this reality.

"Your friends and family panicked. They had you rushed to Storybrooke's Hospital and I understand that you were well taken care of, but it quickly became clear that you needed more professional care."

Henry felt numb.

"Your mother," continued Dr. Jones, "Regina Mills that is, insisted on only the best care for you. After some research she phoned us at the McLean Hospital. We agreed to take a look at your case. I recommended we take you on and have you moved over to our facilities here in Boston to better care for you."

Henry wanted to scream, wanted to cry. But he couldn't open his mouth and tears wouldn't come.

"For the last three years we have been caring for you here," finished Dr. Jones.

Henry backed away from Dr. Jones. He couldn't bring himself to say anything. He had a million questions. A million thoughts. But they were all nonsense. All of them coming at him at once.

"No," said Henry, hoping that the word would make the meaning behind it true: No. You're wrong. I'm not crazy. Everything in my life until this moment is real. Is true. This is the lie. This is the delusion.

"No," he said again.

"Henry," said Dr. Jones, "it's alright. You're awake now. You're safe now. We're going to call your moms and they'll be here as soon as they can."

"No," said Henry, and then an idea struck him. He could practically see the cartoon light bulb lighting up above his head, "There's a curse. Someone put a curse on me, and you and who knows who else to make you forget and make me think I'm crazy."

"Henry," said Killian, "please."

"Killian, you've got to remember who you are. You can remember all you need to do is think. Someone's taken your memories."

"Henry," said Killian, "my name is Dr. _Kevin_ Jones. And if someone put a curse on us, why wouldn't they make you forget as well?"

Henry grinned, "That's what we've got to find out."

Dr. Jones sighed.

"Henry," he said, "this may be hard for you to accept, but it's the truth. You have been in this hospital for the last three years.

"We've talked before," he added, "several times. You've never been lucid, but on occasion we've been awake enough to have a conversation. You kept calling me Hook. I assume that's as in 'Captain Hook'?" Henry nodded, "Let me tell you, I got some grief for that. You construct a beautiful, complex, self-sustaining world and who do I end up as? Prince Charming? Nope. A Wise King? Nope. A great sorcerer? No such luck. I end up as Captain Hook."

"Sorry," said Henry involuntarily.

Dr. Jones laughed.

"This March, we changed your medication, with your mother's – Regina Mills again – with your mother's approval of course. We switched over to a mix of depressants – very low dosage I assure you. It was an experimental procedure, but a low risk one. The intention was to shock you out of your fantasy. We hoped that your fantasy would become…darker somehow. Make you less willing to live in it."

Henry nodded. That did match up.

"On May the tenth we started to see results. You began to wake up…only to slip in again. Still we had achieved a result and tried upping the dosage a little. And…here you are."

Henry said nothing. It made sense. The tenth of May was the day that they'd travelled into Isaac's world, where everything was upside down. And them upping the dosage of his depressants could have been the moment his Mom had chosen to become the Dark One.

But he couldn't accept, not for one second that he was delusional. No, that couldn't be right, it just couldn't.

"Look," said Dr. Jones, "I'm going to go call your moms in Storybrooke, and I'll see if they can make it down to Boston to visit you. In the meantime…hang in there Henry. You're going to be okay."

Dr. Jones opened the door to the white room, closed it, and locked the door behind him. Henry didn't know what to do.

He looked at the white bed against the white padded wall. It looked uninviting. It looked horrifying. He couldn't lie down on that. Henry walked over to the spot he'd woken up in and curled up again.

Henry woke up in his room, in his bed, in Storybrooke to discover his mom watching over him.

"Well hello there sleepyhead," she said smiling, "I thought you'd never wake up."


	3. Chapter 3: Awake?

**Chapter 3: Awake?**

"Mom?" said Henry, "Why are you hanging out by my bed?"

"Well," said his mom, "it is 10:30. I thought you'd never wake up." Henry panicked a little.

"10:30? I'm going to be late for school! I _am_ late for school already!"

"Hey relax," said his mom, "It's a Saturday, you're fine."

Henry furrowed his brow, confused.

"I thought yesterday was Thursday," he said.

"You must be tired," said his mom, "yesterday was Friday remember?"

"If it's Saturday, aren't we supposed to meet Killian, and my grandparents at the library in five minutes?" asked Henry

"Well I wasn't going to wake you for that. They can probably get started without us."

Over the past few months Henry, Regina, Killian, David, Mary Margaret, Belle and on occasion a few others had all been working on ways to get Emma free of the Darkness without either unleashing the Darkness on the world again or having someone stab Emma with the Dagger.

It wasn't exactly going well.

When Henry and his mom arrived Belle was there at the front desk, Henry's grandparents were looking over some books.

"Hi Henry!" said Belle cheerfully.

"Hey Belle," said Henry. Belle had been happy lately. Nursing Rumple back to health had been a chore, but without "The Beast" inside of him anymore he was much easier to handle.

"Oh hi Henry," said Mary Margaret, also cheerfully. Okay, now this was different. What was she being so cheerful about?

Mary Margaret had been in something of a state ever since Emma's big sacrifice. Maybe she had found something? Or maybe she was in denial. Either version would do really.

"Hey Miss. Blanchard," said Henry, applying reflexes from when Mary Margaret was his teacher, "find anything?"

The smile disappeared from Mary Margaret's face.

"No," she said glumly, "you?"

"Nothing in the books I took out yesterday," said Henry, "I think we know more about the Dark One than anyone who wrote these books. As far as the writers are concerned the only way to defeat the Dark One is to get the dagger and either kill the Dark One or control them with the dagger."

"And Emma still has the dagger," said Regina. It was a statement, not a question.

Emma had insisted that nobody take the dagger and control her, which was understandable but worrisome. She claimed that she could control herself, at which point Rumpelstilstkin and Belle, who had been in the room when Emma told everyone her decision both threw their hands up in the air and walked out of the room.

"Here Henry," said Mary Margaret, "take a look through this, see what you find."

Henry took a book from her hands entitled _The Golden Age._

"Why would I want a book called 'The Golden Age'?" asked Henry.

"Look at the author," said David.

Henry looked down. _The Golden Age_ , by Merlin.

"Oh," he said, "I didn't notice that."

Henry sat down. But he couldn't quite focus on the book. He tried again, squinting. He couldn't focus on anything. He closed the book.

"Henry," said his mom, "are you alright."

"I can't focus," said Henry, "I must have slept funny."

"Slept in is what you did," she said.

"I had a weird dream," said Henry.

"Don't worry too much about it," said his mom.

"Henry!" A voice Henry didn't quite recognize was calling his name. He turned around…and it was Killian. But it hadn't sounded like Killian. It sounded like the man from his dream that looked like Killian.

Or maybe he was just imagining it.

"What?" he asked.

"I think I've found something! Come quick!" Killian was speaking with his normal accent. Henry shook his head. He was imagining things.

"Just me?" asked Henry.

"I'll come along," said David.

"Henry!"

No, it was there again: Dr. Jones' voice.

"You two go ahead," said Henry, "I need to sit down."

"Alright," said David.

"You sure mate?" said Killian, "we could really use you on this one."

"You'll be fine without me," said Henry, "if you need some smarts, take Belle." Henry knew he was considered the resident expert on all things Dark One – except for Rumpelstilstkin who was refusing to help, saying their efforts were hopeless hopeless – but Belle was almost as on top of the Dark One mythology as he was.

"I'll come, no problem."

Killian and Belle walked out of the library, and closed the door. Henry sat down again.

"Henry!"

Dr. Jones' voice again. Could Dr. Jones be right? Could the last 3 years have been little more than a dream of a delusional mind?

"No," said Henry aloud, hoping the words would make it realer, "I'm not crazy."

"Of course you're not," said his mom.

"Why would you think that?" added his grandma.

"It's this dream I had," said Henry.

"Dreams aren't real," said his mom, "you know that."

"Except when they are," pointed out Henry, "There was a room on fire that I went to when I dreamed because of the sleeping curse, remember?"

"And this dream is making you think you're crazy," said his mom, sounding almost dismissive.

"No," said Henry, "but –"

"But nothing," said his grandma, "enough of this. You've been spending too much time in this musty room with these musty books. You and your mom go grab an ice cream or something. I'll look after the library until Belle gets back."

"Don't you want to hear about my dream?" asked Henry.

"You can tell your mom while your face is stuffed full of ice cream!" said his grandma.

They went over the ice cream shop. Ruby, who had taken over the place after the Snow Queen's death, took their orders.

"So," started his mom, "how's –"

"Henry!" Dr. Jones' voice, but his mom was mouthing the words.

"– doing?" finished his mom.

"What?" said Henry.

"How's Henry doing?" repeated his mom, "As in how are you doing? Sorry, I was trying to be clever. I guess it didn't turn out very well."

"No it's not that," said Henry, "It's just –" Henry blinked.

And when he opened his eyes again he was waking up in the white room with the padded walls. Dr. Kevin Jones was standing over him.

"Sorry to wake you Henry," said Dr. Jones, "but you have a visitor. And she can only stay for so long."


	4. Chapter 4: Hey, Mom

******Chapter 4: Hey, Mom** **  
**

"No," said Henry, not to Dr. Jones. He realized he was beginning to repeat that word quite a bit, but he was not going to fall into the trap. The asylum was the delusion. The world with magic was the reality. He was sure of it.

"You'll want to meet her," said Dr. Jones.

"Sorry," said Henry, "I wasn't talking to you." Of course he said it like that. Now he really sounded crazy.

"I was talking to myself," he added, hoping this would convince Dr. Jones of his sanity. And then he realized that there was no way to make this sound normal.

"That's quite alright. Follow me." Dr. Jones held the door open for Henry.

Henry walked into the white hallway and followed

It wasn't just Dr. Jones and Henry walking through. A security guard was following them. A security guard who looked an awful lot like Robin Hood.

"Hi," said Henry, turning to the security guard, "what's your name."

"Jonathan Lynch," said the guard, surprised, "Nice to see you doing better Henry."

"Perhaps I should explain," added Dr. Jones, "We've done this walk before. But you weren't lucid at the time. Jonathan Lynch has been with us for a little over a year now."

"You used to mumble to yourself," said the guard, having not a touch of Robin Hood's accent, "like I said, glad to see you doing better."

"So who am I meeting?" Henry asked Dr. Jones.

"Ah, terribly sorry. Your mother – Regina Mills that is."

Henry lit up a little.

Then he reminded himself that this world wasn't real and it wouldn't really be his mom.

They walked to the end of the hallway, and Dr. Jones opened a door and they arrived in a large room with several tables. In the room were about twenty kids, presumably more patients. Quite a few of the faces looked familiar to Henry. Some were old classmates, a few were Lost Boys. Some of the kids were sitting at the tables, some were playing the games. One girl was sitting at a table muttering to herself.

And in the center of the room, sitting down in the clothes Henry remembered her wearing to City Council meetings was his mother.

Except it wasn't her. Henry was sure of this. He had decided that this world wasn't real, and he was sticking to that story. And he would tell whatever it was that looked so much like his mom as much.

Except he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Henry paused to chuckle at the silliness of it all. "Regina" was either a figment of his imagination, a vision created by someone else, or someone masquerading as his mom. But he couldn't risk hurting her feelings.

So instead he ran up to his mom and hugged her. She hugged him back. Tight. It felt real. It felt so real.

Henry sat down on one side of the circular table; his mom sat on the other.

"Hi Henry," said Regina. She seemed different. She was less confident for one. Obviously she seemed very sad, but that was not surprising. But what did surprise Henry was how tired she seemed. And what surprised him most of all was that all of this rang true for Henry. Somehow, it seemed like his mom even though she was so different.

"Hey, mom," said Henry.

"It is so good to talk to you. Do you remember me coming by before?"

"No," admitted Henry. Why was he being so nervous? This wasn't real!

"That's okay," said his mom, "the doctors told me you might not remember. But I came. I tried to come once a week. Some weeks I couldn't come, and I felt terrible about it. I don't know if it was guilt or just me missing you."

"What was I like?" chanced Henry.

"Not good," said his mom slowly, "You weren't very responsive. Occasionally you'd hear me, but you didn't ever seem to answer. Mostly I'd just talk to you. You don't remember any of it?" She seemed worried.

"No," said Henry, "sorry."

"Well then," said his mom, "this isn't going to be easy. They haven't told you anything, about what's been going on with me have they?"

"They just told me you were here," said Henry.

His mom paused.

"There's no easy way of doing this," she said, "and I doubt that you have any amazing stories to tell me. I made some mistakes. After I had to send you here. I don't want you to think this was your fault, but I messed up Henry. After you left I was sad and I got…careless I suppose?

"To be honest, I think I never really handled Storybrooke well. I tried to run the town like I owned it. That wasn't even close to true. Mr. Albert West owns that town."

Henry interrupted.

"Who?" he asked.

"Albert West? Old guy, uses a cane?"

"Mr. Gold?" said Henry. His mom sighed.

"The doctors said," she explained, "that some of this might happen. Some names might have changed around. They said you should remember events correctly, but the names will have changed around. Henry, the man who ran the pawnshop, his name is Albert West."

"What about other names?" asked Henry, wondering what he could trust, "My teacher when I was last in Storybrooke?"

"Mary Margaret Blanchard," said his mom, "In your…stories, these are all fairy tale characters right? Who are Mr. West and Miss. Blanchard?"

"Mr. Gold – uh Mr. West is Rumpelstistkin," said Henry, "Miss. Blanchard – same name – is Snow White."

"If I'm the Evil Queen, that makes sense."

"But you're not," said Henry, "anymore I mean. You changed."

"It's nice to hear you thinking of me like that," said his mom, "but the truth is, I think you cast me right." She let that sentence hang in the air, "Like I was saying. I was able to manage the town for so long because I was careful, not to mention keeping good relations with Albert West. But the fact is, the way I ran Storybrooke was illegal.

"The things I did, I always did for the good of the town. Deals with Mr. West were the name of the game in Storybrooke. I got Sydney Patterson to write me favorable stories in _The Daily Story_ to combat the influence of Mr. West, and hatchet jobs if I thought someone was hurting the town. Except I guess it got more about protecting my position than protecting my hometown.

"And like I said, I started to get sloppy. I'm being indicted on corruption charges. And I'm thinking about pleading guilty."

It was like the air had been sucked out of the room. For a second, it seemed like there was nobody else in the room.

In that moment, Henry could only remember when he was six and was scared that there was something under his bed. And there had been his mom, there to comfort him. She had been so strong for him then.

Henry could believe that she was corrupt, at least at some point as mayor. For a few years, he had been more scared of her than any monster under the bed. But he couldn't believe she was just giving up.

"I think," said his mom, as if she guessed what was on Henry's mind, "it's about being honest for once. I think with everything that happened with you – well I guess I started looking at my own life, my own failings as a mayor, and as a mother. And I think I need to be honest, not just with myself, but with the world, about it."

"What's going to happen to you?" asked Henry.

"If I plead guilty I'll go to state prison," said his mom, almost _nonchalantly_ , "on a reduced sentence of course. How long is up to the judge."

Henry didn't know what to say.

"So tell me something," said his mom.

"What?"

His mom grinned.

"Your psychiatrist told me that he was Captain Hook," she said.

"Yeah," said Henry.

"You must have hated him," said his mom.

"Actually, Hook's pretty cool," said Henry.

"So was anybody else in this room in…that world?"

Henry looked around.

"That guard," he said pointing at the guard that had brought him in, "is Robin Hood. You and he were together," he added.

His mom looked at the guard who looked like Robin Hood.

"Okay," she said, "clearly your opinion of me got much better over the years."

Henry grinned at her, and looked around the room again.

One teenage kid stood out to him in particular: a boy playing Connect 4 against himself.

"That's Peter Pan," he said. His mom looked annoyed.

"I've learned to hate that story," she said.

"Why?" asked Henry.

"Peter Pan takes children off to a land where they get lost in a world of magic. Sound familiar?"

"You'd like my version," said Henry, "he was a villain. And my great-grandfather. On my father's side."

Up until that point, Henry's mom had managed to avoid looking at him like he was crazy, whether it just hadn't occurred to her, or she was making an effort not to do so. But the look on his mom's face made Henry burst out laughing.

And then his mom laughed too.


	5. Chapter 5: Familiar Faces

**Note: Initially I wanted to have no time skips at all in the asylum scenes, in order to really get a sense of Henry's perspective through all of this. When I hit his conversation with Regina, I sort of realized that this would either mean that Regina and Henry's conversation would be depressingly short or that I'd have to make you all sit through what would be an overlong conversation between the two. So I decided to ditch my pretentious ideas in order to make this thing readable.**

 **Chapter 5: Familiar Faces**

Henry and his mom talked for quite a bit longer, and Henry forgot that his life was split in two. Henry wanted to know what had become popular, what games were good, what books were good, and Regina failed to answer his questions in amusing ways. They compared notes on the people in Storybrooke, at which point Henry discovered that there was no "Belle" in Storybrooke, his therapist was not Archibald Hopper but Archibald Anderson, and the owner of Granny's actually had a name: Alexis Gardner.

Henry figured he would have gone with "Granny's" as the name of his restaurant too.

When Henry's mom left, the room seemed empty to Henry for a second, but he realized it was actually filled with people. A receptionist who looked like Tinkerbelle watched over the patients. The patients, all children, were a mix of Lost Boys and children that Henry had never met before.

Henry looked around. None of the girls looked familiar. Except for one. Wendy Darling was sitting at a table. She turned around and looked at Henry with recognition.

In a second, everything changed for Henry. He had somehow been tricked by this world into thinking it was real. But it wasn't. The girl at the table wasn't just some patient in a mental institution she _was_ Wendy Darling. Somehow the way she looked at him convinced him of this.

He walked up to her.

"Hi Wendy," he said to her.

"Can't talk," said the girl, "I'm hiding."

"Who are you hiding from?" asked Henry.

"Jafar and the Red Queen," said Wendy, "They've stolen my genie."

"Wendy?"

"Stop calling me Wendy. I'm Alice."

She didn't seem to be engaging with Henry.

Henry grabbed her shoulder and looked at her.

"Wendy," Henry said, "It's me. It's Henry."

Wendy looked up at him.

"Hi Will," she said.

 _God_ , thought Henry, _Is this actually what I was like?_

He let her go and walked away.

"Will!" shouted out Wendy, "Will! Come back! Where are you Will! Cyrus! Will vanished!"

Henry walked up to the orderly who looked like Robin.

"Hey," he said, "I'd like to go back to my room now."

"I'll check with the doc," said the orderly, "But you should be good to go."

"I think Will's a genie!" yelled out Wendy as orderlies took her over to a corner to calm down.

Henry looked at the room. Peter Pan and Felix were playing checkers and Pan was winning…so Felix overturned the board. A couple of the younger boys were talking to each other. _They must be doing better_ , thought Henry. The two boys seemed pretty happy and aware.

"I hear you wanted to go back to your room," said Dr. Jones.

"Yeah," said Henry.

"I think you should spend as much time out of your room as you can," said Dr. Jones.

"I need to do some thinking," explained Henry.

"All right," said Dr. Jones, "But keep in mind that the more time you spend out here, the quicker you'll heal."

As Henry made the walk back to his room he realized that he didn't have a clue which world was real. Seeing Wendy – or whatever her name was – like that was like realizing that that might have been him just a few days ago. Or of course somebody had cast a curse on him. The problem was, Henry had no way of knowing which was real.

"The nurse will be by with some pills for you," said Dr. Jones.

Henry nodded at him.

He walked around his room. It was fairly featureless the walls were padded. The bed had a metal frame though. Maybe they had come to the conclusion that he wasn't at risk for self-harm.

The bed didn't look like it had ever been slept in though, and he had woken up on the floor. Whatever they thought they were doing by giving him a bed, it had clearly failed.

Henry pressed his hand against the walls of the room. The walls felt real. He could feel the foam inside them scrunching up against his hand.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," said Henry. He sat down on his bed.

The door opened to reveal Zelena, carrying a tray.

"I have some pills for you Henry," she said smiling. Her accent, unlike others, remained.

"No," said Henry.

"It's alright," she said soothingly, "it's just your usual. It's good to see you up and about," she added.

She walked towards him.

Instantly Henry crawled away from her, going as far away as possible on the bed.

"Get away from me," he yelled at her.

"Henry," said Zelena, "is something wrong?"

"What did you do to me?" yelled Henry.

"Henry," said Zelena sternly, "you need to take your pills." But it all made sense to Henry now. The world with the asylum wasn't real. Zelena had escaped somehow and put a curse on him. It had to be that.

"Stop this," said Henry, "stop this. End this. Let me go home."

"Henry," said Zelena, "you won't be able to go home if you don't get better. And you won't be able to get better if you don't take your pills."

She walked towards him and offered Henry the tray. On it were several cups with pills in them and a cardboard cup. Henry shoved the tray out of her hands. The water spilled on the bed and some of it got on Zelena and Henry.

Zelena sighed, as if this were every day for her.

"I'll get Dr. Jones," she said flatly and walked out of the room, locking the door behind her.

Henry wiped some of the water off of his shirt. He hadn't really looked at what he was wearing.

He was wearing a plain blue shirt, long-sleeved, and gray sweatpants.

 _I miss my scarf_ , he thought.

Why had Zelena done this? That was the real question. Why make him think he was crazy. What was the point?

Or was he wrong? Was the nurse just someone else he'd incorporated into his fantasy? Maybe he hadn't liked the nurse much and decided to make her a villain.

Dr. Jones walked through the door, carrying a new tray with pills on it.

"Hey," said Henry.

"Hi Henry," said Dr. Jones, "I hear you're not getting along with Nurse Fredrickson." He laughed a little.

"I can't take anything from her," said Henry, "She's…" Henry realized anything he said following this would sound insane.

"Henry," said Dr. Jones, "these pills will make you better."

"What if they won't?" said Henry, "What if this world is the lie?"

"And I'm just a figment of your imagination in the form of Captain Hook?" said Dr. Jones, "Is that it."

Henry nodded.

"Henry," said Dr. Jones, "I know that you want to believe in that other world. It's the world with magic in it, the world where you get to be a hero. The truth is though, Henry, that world isn't real. This one right here is."

"What are the pills?" asked Henry.

"Various anti-psychotics and a mild sedative," said Dr. Jones.

"Why the sedative?" asked Henry.

"Because you reacted violently to the suggestion of taking your pills," Dr. Jones smiled warmly, "Personally, I think there's no need. But it is the policy here, and it won't do you any harm."

"I can't take them," said Henry, "Dr. Jones, I don't know which world is real right now. I don't know whether this is real or not. But if this isn't the real world, I can't take those pills. Because if it is then Zelena – the nurse – she might be the one who did this to me. And I can't take anything from her."

"Call me Kevin," said Dr. Jones, "Or Dr. Kevin if you must call me "doctor". And if this world is an illusion, then how could taking some pills possibly affect you? If this world is real though, I am your doctor and I am telling you, you will not get better without these pills."

Henry looked at Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones smiled back. Henry decided he trusted the smile. Besides, the logic made sense.

"Okay," said Henry, and one by one he took each of the pills. Five in total.

"Get some rest," said Dr. Jones, leaving the room, "when you wake up, we'll give you a change of clothes. And sheets. And a new nurse."

Dr. Jones left the room, locking the door behind him.

At first, Henry thought the sedative didn't work. But then he started to get drowsy. He curled up in the spot he'd woken up in again.

Henry woke up in the Storybrooke Hospital with Regina looking down at him.


	6. Chapter 6: Wicked Witch on the Loose

**Chapter 6: Wicked Witch on the Loose**

"Hi Henry," said Regina peering down at him. Emma was there too.

"We were all worried," added Emma, "Regina told us what happened."

Henry tried to put everything together.

"What did happen?" he asked.

"We were at the Ice Cream Shop," said Regina, "and then you just collapsed."

Henry looked at her, and thought back to what had happened. The nurse in the asylum was Zelena.

"I know what happened to me," he said, sitting up.

"What do you mean?" asked Emma.

"It was Zelena," said Henry, "she cast some kind of spell on me. I saw an asylum."

"You're not crazy Henry," said Emma.

"I know that," said Henry, "But I kept on seeing it. And it seemed so real. And there was this nurse there and she looked and sounded just like Zelena."

"So let's go get her," said Emma, clearly determined.

"How did she escape though?" asked Henry, "that's the question."

"Good point kid," said Emma, "There was the cuff right? The one that limits magic. So she'd have had to have gotten it off somehow."

"Except the cuff can't be taken off by the wearer," pointed out Regina, "which means somebody helped her."

"Who would help her though?" asked Henry.

"Doesn't matter," said Emma, "What matters, is she's going down. Kid, you and me are going back to Mary Margaret's apartment, you stay in there until this is over. Regina, go find your sister.

Regina walked out the door, leaving Emma and Henry in the hospital. Henry suddenly noticed that there were no nurses or doctors looking over him.

"You feeling okay Henry?" asked his mom.

"I'm all right, I guess," said Henry, "It's just been a really weird day."

"The asylum thing?" said Emma.

"Yeah," said Henry, "that." Henry got out of bed.

"Henry," said Emma, "you have to remember that this is the real world okay?"

"Yeah," said Henry.

"Even when you're over there," said Emma, "you have to remember that this is real."

Henry thought about it, and realized he was behaving as if each world was real while he was in it.

"Sure," he lied. He immediately regretted the decision, knowing that Emma would realize that he was lying. But she didn't seem to notice.

They went out the door and walked towards Mary Margaret's apartment. Unfortunately, about halfway there they were confronted by a large broomstick with a witch on it.

"Hello dears," said Zelena.

Her skin was green.

"Why's her skin green?" yelled Henry.

"Worry about that later. For now…" Emma raised up the dagger. It glowed, and a force field came out of it, forcing Zelena back.

Henry paused, pensive.

"I don't remember Mr. Gold ever doing that," he said.

"Every Dark One," said Emma, "has their own relationship with the dagger. For me, I am able to access it's magic directly from the source."

"Why?"

"Because that's how it was for me. I don't understand half this Dark One stuff. I just know that I am it."

Henry turned away, involuntarily.

"Come on," said Emma, suddenly chipper, "The worst is over. Let's get you to the apartment, I'll put up a new protection spell, and then I'll find that witch and we can find out what's happening to you."

Henry nodded.

They started their walk home.

"But why is her skin green."

"Henry – " Dr. Jones' voice again, this time coming out of Emma's mouth.

"– are you okay?" asked Emma.

"It's happening again," said Henry, "I'm hearing voices. They're taking me back."

Henry blinked, and for a second when he opened his eyes he thought he was in the asylum again, Dr. Jones leaning over him.

"Henry wake up," said Dr. Jones, but then he was back with Emma in Storybrooke.

Henry felt like he was going to fall apart under all the pressure.

"Henry, you okay?" asked Emma.

"I was there," said Henry, "for a second, I was there, in the asylum."

Emma paused for a second.

"I fell like my world is falling apart," said Henry, near the point of tears, "I don't know how much more of this I can take. It's like everything is crumbling."

Emma looked at Henry, seemingly saddened, resolute and taken aback all at once.

"Just try to remember what's real," she said quietly, almost as if she wasn't sure if she wanted him to hear it.

There was a cackle. Zelena's voice. Henry felt Emma instantly grabbing her, and before he looked up at her face, he knew it was her.

"Zelena!" yelled out Emma, "What did you do to my son?"

Zelena.

"Oh, Henry thinks this was me? How very bizarre. But really, Dark Savior, what on earth makes you think I did this to your son?"

"Wicked Witch on the loose," said Emma, "all of a sudden strange things start happening to my kid. All kind of adds up, wouldn't you say? Plus, he's Regina's son too. No love lost there I assume."

"Oh Emma," said Zelena, "If I were trying to hurt Regina now, don't you think I'd think of something more than going after her son?"

"I don't know," said Emma, "if I wanted to hurt Regina, it's what I'd do."

"Let's start then," said Zelena, "with a straightforward question. Why is my skin green? In this world, I get to me my charming Caucasian self. So why does my skin look like it belongs on a frog."

"Henry –" Dr. Jones' voice again, out of Zelena's mouth.

"Oh sorry," said Zelena, "did I do that?"

"I don't understand. If you're not the one who's doing this to me, then how do you know about the asylum? About the voices in the asylum?"

"Oh Henry," said Zelena, "think about it. Think quite hard. It's because what they're saying over there is true. I'm not real. Your mother here isn't real. None of this is real. I'm just some nurse you made a villain in your fantasy world. Your mother is no savior, just a woman who gave up a baby. Your other mother isn't an Evil Queen, just a controlling woman and a corrupt mayor. Your world isn't magical Henry. It's not fantastical. It's all an illusion."

"Or," said Henry, "you're just saying that because you're the one doing this to me."

"Henry, dear" said Zelena, "I really do think you're missing something. Have you ever seen a spell that could do anything like this? At a distance? How could I be controlling what in your head when I haven't been anywhere near you until now?"

"Henry, your mother – Emma Swan – is here to see you." It was Dr. Jones' voice, this time coming out of his mom's mouth.

"What was that dear?" said Zelena, "I'm afraid I didn't hear you." She cackled again.

"I said get the hell away from my son!" yelled Emma. Then, she seemed to stare at Zelena until the Wicked Witch lit afire.

"Mom!" yelled Henry, concerned, "What did you do?"

"Really now Henry," said the Witch as she burnt alive, "Don't you think if Rumpelstiltskin could have done this, he would have done it more often? And shouldn't I be dead by now?"

Henry stared into the fire. He couldn't smell anything. No burning flesh, no burning anything. He had never seen anyone burn alive, but he thought it was supposed to smell.

He closed his eyes. What he was seeing was terrible enough.

When he opened them he was back in the asylum.

"Looks like you've dried off," said Dr. Jones, smiling at him, "But if you want, you can have a change of clothes. And then you can see your mother."


	7. Chapter 7: Seattle

**Chapter 7: Seattle**

Henry took the change of clothes. They looked exactly the same as his previous clothes. Plain blue long sleeved t-shirt and a grey pair of sweatpants. He then did the walk out to the recreation room with the man who wasn't Robin Hood leading the way.

Ever since he had known her, Henry had thought of Emma Swan as a powerful force for good. Even since she had become the Dark One he still thought of her as being someone who would always use her powers for good.

And now he looked at her and he couldn't see it. Not the Dark One, not the Savior. Like Zelena had said, she was just a woman who had given up a baby.

Still his mom though. Still definitely his mom.

"Hey kid," said Emma, smiling a smile that Henry hadn't seen from her in a long time. It was a warm but uncertain smile.

"Hi Mom," said Henry.

"Your mom," said Emma, and then paused " – I mean your other Mom obviously – Regina – anyway. She told me that you were out of your coma and doing better. And apparently she told you what's going in Storybrooke as well."

"Yeah," said Henry, then had a realization. In this reality, his moms did not get along last he was around to hear about it. At all.

"You two are getting along?" he asked.

Emma smiled.

"Reasonably well. She made sure you had good care after your break. And she was very willing to let me have visitation rights. We buried the hatchet after that. Us fighting over you was only hurting you after all."

"Mom didn't really talk much about Miss Blanchard and how all those people were doing," said Henry.

"Mary Margaret and David got married two and a half years ago. Kathryn – his first wife – was pretty amicable about it. Then she left for Miami, where as far as I know she lives to this day. Mary Margaret kept her name. I seem to remember her outright refusing to be called 'Mary Margaret Nolan'. I think she even tried to get David to change his. He nearly went forward with it, before he decided that 'David Blanchard' didn't sound great either. As far as I know, they're doing pretty well now."

"'As far as you know'?" asked Henry.

"Ah…thought you might notice that," said Emma, "Well Henry, I left Storybrooke two years ago. I'm happier in cities. Ended up living in Seattle. Just got off of a plane from there."

Henry had been feeling like his world was crumbling ever since this whole thing had started. So this hardly even phased. It did surprise though.

"Will you ever move back?" asked Henry.

Emma shrugged. "Probably not," she said. "Especially since I've got business in Seattle."

 _Right_ , thought Henry, _No family there. Not since I left._

"How are you, Henry?" asked Emma.

Henry thought about it.

"Everything is falling apart. A week ago I was in a world full of magic and now, my world is made out of a bunch of white rooms."

Emma laughed a little.

"They don't exactly go for varied _décor_ do they?" she said. Henry giggled a little, shaking his head.

"You being treated alright?"

"I don't really know," said Henry, "I haven't really had a meal here yet – not one that I can remember anyway. I was given a sedative yesterday, and I went out like a light and woke up in –" Henry stopped himself.

"Storybrooke? The one with magic in it?"

Henry nodded, unsure.

"Hey, Henry," said Emma, "it's okay. You can talk to me about this stuff."

Henry smiled at her.

Like with Regina, Henry and Emma mostly talked about Emma's life. Emma was still a bail bondswoman, but Seattle was keeping surprisingly busy. She was still spending most of her time alone, but she seemed happy.

Happy to see him that was.

Everything had gone so wrong. Henry could remember that the longer she had been in Storybrooke, the happier she had seemed. Okay, so she was consistently fighting Regina over affairs of the town, but she had still seemed much happier than when he picked her up. And now she was the lonely woman he'd brought home with him five years ago.

When Emma left, an orderly offered Henry some lunch, which Henry, realizing he hadn't eaten much since he woke up, gratefully accepted. It was a substance that could generously be called chicken casserole.

 _Hospital food_ , though Henry, _I've got to get out of here_.

While he was eating the boy who looked like Peter Pan came over to talk to him.

"Hi," said Pan, "are you able to talk?" He had the same accent that Pan did.

"Uh…yes?" said Henry.

"Sorry about this," said Pan, "it's just that in the past you've always been a little…out of it."

"People keep on telling me that I'm 'as lucid as I have been since I got here,'" said Henry.

"They're right," said Pan, "My name is James, by the way."

"I'm Henry," said Henry.

"Nice to meet you Henry. Do you play chess?"

Henry had never had much time to learn chess. So he accepted the offer. Learning was slow going at first, but James was a fairly good teacher, and, as he put it, actually pretty terrible at the game. So by their forth game, Henry was definitely on his level.

Henry was actually rather enjoying the game. Maybe because it was the only thing he'd actually done since arriving in the hospital that didn't depress him in some way or other. And when playing chess with someone who looks like one of your imaginary arch-rivals is the least depressing thing you've done all day – you enjoy that moment the best you can.

Afterwards Henry was escorted back to his room and offered dinner. Something vaguely resembling tortellini, and pills, but no sedative this time. The new nurse looked like nobody Henry had seen before, a tall, clean shaven man. Afterwards, Dr. Jones stopped by to talk to Henry.

"Hello, Henry," he said.

"Hi Dr. Jones," said Henry.

"I want to talk to you about your condition."

Henry nodded.

"I don't think you're best served being here anymore. You seem to be on the road to recovery. But I need you to be honest with me. Are you certain this is the real world?"

Henry thought about this question for a second. Was it really? After what had happened the last time he'd visited Storybrooke, the nonsense with Zelena, and everything else, it definitely seemed more likely. Was he certain though?

As certain as he'd ever be.

"Yes," said Henry.

"Good," said Dr. Jones, "Now, unfortunately, there is a barrier to your leaving this hospital. I believe it would be in the best interests of your treatment if you were released, with regular psychiatric visits and plenty of medication of course, but you would need a legal guardian with a stable life – it's a hospital policy. Now your mother – Regina Mills – is your legal guardian of course, but with the legal troubles she has been facing lately, I don't think that the Board would approve of my releasing you to her custody. And to be honest, I don't think it would be good for you either. Living with a mother who might be danger of going to jail every day could be very damaging at this stage of your condition.

"Do you have any extended family that could possibly take you in?"

Henry thought about it. Regina had never taken him to see any of her family. He shook his head no.

"Well, I'm sorry to get your hopes up," said Dr. Jones.

"Wait!" said Henry "What about my mom? What about Emma?"

"Your birth mother? That might work. There'd be quite a bit more paperwork, and Regina Mills would have to approve of the transfer of guardianship over to Emma Swan, but if that all goes through, I don't see any reason to disapprove.

"Now get yourself some sleep," added Dr. Jones, kindly, before locking the door behind him.

Henry smiled. He was going to go live in Seattle with his mom.


	8. Chapter 8: A Little More Madness

**Chapter 8: A Little More Madness**

Henry woke up in Storybrooke.

 _This world isn't real_ , he thought. Then he awoke to both of his moms, his grandparents and his 2-year-old uncle looking at him and he decided to give it one last chance. The owner of the Heart of the Truest Believer could surely give magic one last chance.

"Hi Henry," said his grandma. She moved out of the way to reveal his other grandfather, Rumpelstilstkin and his wife, Belle.

"We were all quite worried," said Rumpelstilstkin.

That didn't sound like Rumpelstilstkin. Since unbecoming the Dark One, Rumpelstilstkin had been largely removed from life. Belle had been running the pawnshop, and taking care of him in his old age, which had suddenly become something to worry about.

"All quite worried," wasn't really the kind of phrase that Mr. Gold had been using lately.

Henry shook his head. Nothing made sense anymore.

"You kind of collapsed," said Emma, "while Zelena was burning to death. Understandable considering what happened. The smell was awful."

Henry thought. He didn't remember any smell.

"Now, you may feel a little different," said Regina.

Henry frowned.

"You see," said Belle, "we found a way to free Emma from the dagger. But it came at a price."

"Magic," said Mr. Gold, "always does."

"What was the price?" asked Henry.

Emma walked closer to him.

"The Darkness," she said, "has to be tethered to somebody. The dagger has to have somebody's name on it. Who better than the purest soul we know?"

Henry couldn't see anybody but Emma, but behind her he heard their voices.

"The only person we know who has always done what he thought was right." Regina's voice.

"The one who has stood by us all through thick and thin." David's voice.

"The only one who believed in us no matter what." Mr. Gold's voice.

"The only one who will not be tempted by the power of the Dark One," said Emma, holding up the dagger.

And inscribed on the dagger was the name, " **Henry Mills** ".

"No," said Henry, "no, no, no, no you wouldn't do this to me. None of you would. This is insane. You couldn't possibly do this to me."

He got out of his hospital bed and ran out the door. And there was Storybrooke. Just as he knew it. Except there was a mountain in the middle of town. Emma followed him out.

"Where did that mountain come from?" asked Henry.

"Maybe you should go up it," said Emma, "see what's there."

"It's a long climb," said Henry.

"You're the Dark One now, remember?" said Emma, "You can just poof yourself up there."

And there he was. On top of an imaginary mountain overlooking an imaginary version of the town he'd grown up in.

"Why are you here?" he said to Zelena, who was hanging around at the top of the mountain, still all green.

"I guess you think I'll shock you into reality," said Zelena, "I'm just a part of you after all."

"I don't get it," said Henry.

"No, I suppose you don't," said Zelena. Then she changed into Captain Hook.

"You see Henry," said Hook, accent intact, "if this is all in your head, then we're all just parts of you. I'm not really a dashingly handsome pirate captain, just a rather good looking psychiatrist. And a vision of the kind of man Emma might like that you conjured up."

He turned back into Zelena.

"So maybe I'm the one that is supposed to get you back to reality," said Zelena, "Maybe it's the green skin. That's ridiculous isn't it?"

Henry laughed. It was all ridiculous. Being the grandchild of Snow White and Prince Charming, magic, and a world where everything was always guaranteed to turn out okay. All of it was completely silly.

Zelena morphed into Emma, holding the dagger.

"Of course there had to be danger," she said, "or else, it wouldn't be a very interesting world to live in. Or else there wouldn't be any more quests to go on."

The dagger morphed into a red suitcase that matched Emma's leather jacket.

"You said you wanted to travel with me to Seattle. Well you can only do that if you let go of this world entirely. Another quest, eh Henry?"

Emma morphed into Miss Blanchard, holding onto his book of fairytales, _Once Upon a Time_.

"Do you think," she said, "if I knew that this book would lead to you being in a mental hospital, I'd ever have given it to you?"

She morphed into David Nolan, the book vanishing.

"Of course not," he said, "She only wanted what was best for you."

David morphed into Dr. Kevin Jones, in a lab coat, which was strange because he'd never worn a lab coat.

Dr. Jones smiled.

"You're seeing me now because I just walked into your room. In the asylum," he said, back to an American accent, "What do I want, do you think?"

"Are you going to tell me if I can go home with my mom?" Henry asked.

"I don't know," said Dr. Jones, "why don't you wake up, and we'll find out."

Dr. Jones morphed into Regina.

"Just close your eyes Henry," she said softly, "and when you open them, you'll be awake."

"Mom," said Henry, "will I ever see you again?"

"Well, Emma did say we were getting along pretty well. Emma will probably let you visit from time to time. But it may be a while."

Henry took one last look at his mom, and he closed his eyes.

* * *

 **Note: Just to be clear, we're not done yet. We've got two more chapters to go.**


	9. Chapter 9: Just Close Your Eyes

**Chapter 9: Just Close Your Eyes**

And when Henry opened his eyes, he was back in his padded cell, Dr. Kevin Jones peering over him.

"I've got some good news for you Henry," he said, "some truly excellent news. Regina Mills agreed to a transfer of custody over to your birth mother. She couldn't make it in to the asylum today because she had a trial date, but if Emma Swan signs the custody papers, the board has agreed to send you home with her."

Henry smiled a little, and nodded. On one hand, he was going to get to live with his Mom in Seattle. On the other hand, his other mom was probably going to jail. Mixed feelings barely covered it.

Still he was going to get to leave the asylum for the first time in – apparently – four years. And there would probably be dessert involved. Plus the food at the asylum really had been terrible.

For one last time, he made his way to the recreation room. There his mother was waiting for him.

Instantly he ran up and hugged her. She smiled down at him. It was great.

They sat down across from each other at a circular table in the center of the room. Emma pulled out a small stack of paper the was stapled together, a piece of paper and a pen.

"This," she said pointing to the stack, "is a copy of a transfer of custody form, that I signed today. It's official Henry. I'm your mom."

Henry grinned at her.

"This," said Emma, pointing to the single sheet of paper, "is the release form that the McLean Hospital gave me. It's almost all filled out. I just need to sign it."

"What are you waiting for?" asked Henry.

"A few things," said Emma, "first of all, I need you to tell me for sure. Are you sure this is the real world?"

Henry thought about his options. On one hand, the magical world had lost any sense it had. And everything in the asylum seemed to make sense itself.

"Yes," he said, telling the truth, "I'm sure."

"Good," said Emma, "Now, there's just one more thing I want to know. Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I don't understand," said Henry.

"I'm glad you're willing to have a life with me kid," said Emma, "I'm not sure I would be so kind if my birth parents showed up in my life. But Regina still raised you. And if we do this, you probably won't see much of her again. I won't have much time to visit Storybrooke with my work."

"What are you saying?" said Henry.

"The hospital told me they might be able to, in a few months, depending on your condition, release you back to Regina's custody, assuming she's not in jail. You could life in Storybrooke with Regina. Any school friends you have you could be with. You'd have the life you grew up with."

Henry thought about it.

 _Don't rush this,_ he thought, _big life changing decision to be made here. Is this really what you want?_

"Sign it," said Henry, "I'm ready to get out of this place."

Emma nodded, smiling in relief, and signed the sheet of paper. Something tugged at the back of Henry's mind.

"Now," she said, "hang tight. I'm going to give this to reception, they're going to give me a bunch of pills for you, and the number of a good psychiatrist in Seattle."

"Wait," said Henry.

"What?" said Emma.

"What did you say? About the things I might miss in Storybrooke. You mentioned my school friends," said Henry.

"I guess I did," said Emma, "And?"

"I had a weird life," said Henry, "growing up in Storybrooke."

"That town was a little strange, yeah," said Emma, chuckling.

"No, I mean really weird. And only I noticed it. Everyone seemed to be going through the same day, over and over again. And nobody but me aged. I didn't have any school friends, because every year when I moved up a grade, everyone else in my class stayed in the same grade as they were the previous year. And they didn't even notice."

"Henry please," said Emma, "Dr. Jones said something like this might happen. You might rewrite your past to suit your delusions."

"He said that about names," said Henry, "Mom – Regina – told me. She said I'd remember some of the specifics wrong, but the events I remembered before I remember before you broke the curse would be right."

"Henry –" started Emma.

"Being in this place almost made me forget," said Henry, "but nothing of my life before Miss Blanchard gave me the book made any sense. Everybody always did the same things over and over again, every day, nonstop. Nobody but me had birthdays. Nobody but me or mom seemed to be able to change anything about their lives. Until Emma Swan came to town. And all of a sudden, it was like you flipped a switch and turned on time.

"The book that Miss Blanchard gave me, had pictures of people that looked just like the people in my town. The Evil Queen shared my mom's name. And when I looked you up, I didn't expect you to be important. I just wanted to know that you were out there. But you had the name of the little girl that was going to be The Savior in my picture book.

"Without magic, none of my life makes the slightest bit of sense," said Henry, "and for once, I'm not talking about believing in magic or having faith in magic. I'm talking about logic."

"Henry," said Emma, "listen to me. You need to remember what's real. This, right here is real."

"This asylum doesn't make sense," said Henry, "My cell is padded, but my bed has a metal frame. And no way they release me so quickly. In fact, no way you submitted all of the paperwork to make me your son and not Regina's – legally I mean – in just a day. When did you get to Storybrooke and get Regina's signature? It's a pretty long drive between Boston and Storybrooke you know."

"Please – " started Emma, but Henry cut her off again.

"When I was over there, ever since I woke up in the asylum, I couldn't read. Like I was dreaming. That's part of what made me realize that that world wasn't real.

"Except this world isn't real either. And I can prove it."

Henry grabbed the sheet of paper that was supposed to be the release form.

"I doubt," he said, "that whoever made this place has had time to actually imagine what would be on an inmate release form."

He looked at the piece of paper, and sure enough, it was blank. There was nothing on it. It had looked like there was writing on it from a distance, but now that he was actually trying to read it, it was like the writing had vanished.

"It's blank," he said.

"Henry," said Emma, "I'm your mother. You have to trust me."

"You," said Henry, "are not my mother. I don't know who you are, or what you've done to me, but I know that you are not my mother. My mother would never do this to me."

He looked up and realized he'd been crying. He wiped the tears away from his face and looked at the face that looked like Emma's.

She looked hurt.

Then he looked around him.

All the people in the recreation room had disappeared, leaving only tables an unfinished game of Connect Four, some snack food, a tray of pills floating in midair, and the walls of the room.

The games, food, and the tray all vanished. Then the tables vanished. Then the walls and the floor vanished leaving just a white void, and the woman who looked like Emma, standing in front of him.

Emma looked like she was going to cry.

"Mom," said Henry, unable to control himself, "I'm –" For the first time, Emma cut him off.

"Henry," she said, almost smiling, almost crying, "just close your eyes. And when you open them, you will be awake."

"That's what I did last time. And I ended up in the asylum. And that wasn't real either."

"I know," said Emma, holding back a sob, "but I've got nowhere else to send you."

"How will I be sure if it's real?" asked Henry.

"You'll know," said Emma, "you'll just know."

Henry decided to trust her.

Henry took one last look at his mom, barely holding back tears.

Henry closed his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10: Awake

**Chapter 10: Awake**

And when he woke up he was in a place he'd never been before. It was underground. Possibly the mines in Storybrooke? Another bit of weirdness from his childhood growing up. Coal mines in Maine.

He was lying down on a soft mattress underneath a soft blanket. Henry took off the blanket sat up and looked around.

It all felt much realer than either the asylum or the fake Storybrooke had. Smells smelled stronger. Objects felt realer. Sounds seemed less dull. Even the colors seemed a little more real.

Around the room were a bunch of objects, all of which glowed for an instant while Henry could see them before the glow disappeared. An urn that was glowing was still floating in mid air.

So this was magic. At last something that made sense.

The urn slowly descended to the grown before landing; then someone angrily kicked the thing over causing it to break and some sort of yellow powder to fall out of it.

The person who had kicked it turned away and walked back over into the shadows.

Henry stood up.

The cave was illuminated by a bunch of flashlights. Because it was illuminated Henry could see various glyphs written on the walls of the cave.

A sob came from the corner of the cave.

Henry looked over. Blond hair. Not Zelena. So much for that theory. It had been, he figured, a little unlikely that Zelena would have cast a curse on him, and then allowed him to figure out whom he was fighting.

The straight blond hair was a little longer than shoulder length and lay on the shoulders of a woman in a red leather jacket.

"No," said Henry. He didn't even realize he said it out loud.

Emma, his mother, turned and faced him.

"You didn't," said Henry, but he couldn't possibly finish the sentence.

Emma smiled a sad smile, before breaking into tears, just a little.

"What did you do?" asked Henry.

"Something horrible," said Emma.

"Why?" asked Henry.

"Because I couldn't leave you," said Emma.

Henry just stared back at his mother. A woman who he'd only met just over four years ago. A woman who he'd learned to trust implicitly. A woman, who, it had seemed, would do anything to protect him. And now she had done this.

"I lied," said Emma, "when I said I could control the power of the Dark One. The truth is, I tried to give up the dagger. I tried to give it to my parents, but I couldn't make myself. I tried to give it to Killian, and I couldn't do it. So I tried to give it to Regina, but that didn't work either. I tried giving it to you, but I couldn't even make myself do that.

"Every time I tried to give someone the dagger, all of these doubts crept into my mind. My parents had lied to me. Hook was a pirate. Regina had a poor history with Dark Magic, and you – well you're just a kid. It was like the Darkness didn't want to be controlled. I think I know, somehow, that no Dark One has ever voluntarily given up the dagger. Ever."

"I don't understand," said Henry. It was the only thing he could think of saying.

Emma wiped a tear from her eye. Henry wiped several more from his eyes. They stared at each other for a second.

"I decided," said Emma, "I had to get the hell away from magic. If I couldn't give up the power, maybe I could go someplace where the power could hurt nobody. Get the hell out of this town, get away from magic, my family, Killian, everybody. But I couldn't leave everyone behind. I needed somebody to come with me."

"And you couldn't just ask me?" yelled Henry.

Emma sat down against the cave wall, shaking her head "no".

"Why not?" yelled Henry again, "Why couldn't you just ask?"

"You'd never leave Regina. And besides. I know what you'd say. You'd tell me to give up the dagger. You'd tell me to keep fighting."

"Well, maybe you should have listened to me!"

Emma buried her head in her hands. Henry wiped his shirt against his face to get the tears out.

"Why did you do this?" asked Henry.

"I picked you," said Emma, "Of all the people in Storybrooke, you were the one I couldn't live without."

"Is that," said Henry, "supposed to make me happy?"

"Probably not," said Emma, "The point is, I knew you'd never come on your own. I didn't want to take away your memories of Regina. I didn't want to take that away from you. Really, I didn't want to take any of it away from you. But I had to make a choice. I decided that I'd let you keep your memories. All of them."

"But you'd make me think I was insane?"

"Like I said," said Emma, "I did something horrible."

Henry sat back down on the mattress he'd woken up on. He felt like curling up in a ball underneath the blanket until the world disappeared. Except he'd done enough sleeping and enough curling up into small balls at the asylum.

"It took almost all of my magic," continued Emma, "to hold that world together. I had to augment it with all of this," she said pointing to various objects around the room. The glyphs had to be written in special ink, and that was hard to find. And half these magical items I had to steal from Gold's shop."

The last bit made sense. Ever since she had become the Dark One, Mr. Gold had refused to sell to Emma anything that could have any magical use. Not that he could do much to stop the Dark One if she was really motivated to get her hands on something.

But something else stuck with Henry.

"How long have you been planning all of this?" he asked.

"The last two months," said Emma.

"Why make Zelena the nurse? Why make Peter Pan a kid playing chess?"

"I had to see how far you'd progressed," said Emma, "how close you were to accepting the asylum-world as real. So I put people you'd be scared of in there to see how you'd react. And it was hard to be all those people. I could only really be one person at a time."

"You said you had a home in Seattle and work there."

"Well I did and I do. Or at least I could have," said Emma, "I have a couple clients lined up for a new Bail Bonds business in Seattle. And an apartment ready for us."

"And you said that I would have a therapist there. And you were going to give me pills?"

"Sugar pills," said Emma, "and as for the psychiatrist. Remember Greg Mendell and Tamara? They were working for Peter Pan but they thought they were working for some anti-magic crusade in the 'Home Office' right? Well I found one of them that is actually a licensed psychiatrist and lives in Seattle. That's why I chose Seattle. I called him up claiming to be from the Home Office. Took some convincing, but he believed me. I explained just enough to make him believe that what he would be doing with you would be of critical importance."

"And you were going to have me visit my mom? Regina?"

Emma shook her head.

"Every year or so, I would have driven you into Storybrooke, yes. Then I'd have cast the same spell on you, and a little bit of memory potion in case you saw anything weird. I'd play Regina."

"So," said Henry, "you wanted to get away from magic, and take me with you so you cast a massively powerful curse on me, and wanted to leave magic alone forever, except for the times when you'd come back to town and cast the same, massively powerful curse on me."

Emma nodded.

"Mom," said Henry, "you've told me a lot of things that didn't make sense since you started this whole thing. And yet somehow, that is the one I'm having the hardest time believing."

Emma grinned just a little.

"You're right," she said, "it makes no sense."

"Don't smile at me," said Henry.

Emma nodded.

"I know what we're going to do," said Emma, "you're going to take that cuff off of Zelena, and put it on me. I'm the bigger danger here anyway."

"That wouldn't change anything," said Henry, "you're trying to run away from this problem. Trying to get away from the power. But whatever you do, the power will be inside you. You need to do something that Dark One's never do. You need to give up control to somebody else.

"Mom," said Henry, "I need you to give me the dagger."

Emma pulled out the dagger. " **Emma Swan** " it said. She turned it over a couple of times, then shook her head.

"I can't," she said.

Henry held his hand out.

"I can't," she said.

Henry nodded.

Emma took the blade in her hand, and put the hilt in her son's. Henry grasped onto the handle.

"Emma Swan," he said, "you can never try to take this dagger back, or make somebody else take it for you."

Emma nodded in approval.

Henry put the dagger on his belt.

"Come on," said Henry, "I want to see the outside world. I've been missing it."

 **Note: I'd just like to say that that final chapter was damn hard for me to write. Also that, in spite of what I just said, this fanfic honestly was quite a joy to write. Thank you to everybody who gave feedback, it was, and always will be much appreciated.**


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